Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Cheesy Beefy Lasagna

I have to confess I am not always a patient cook. Specially on busy weekdays, with meetings to attend, deadlines to meet and kids to teach (and feed), I would prefer dishes that are easy to prepare. If you go over the recipes here, you will notice that most, if not all, are easy to prepare, easy to cook, with ingredients that are readily available.

So, when Daughter asks for a Lasagna, I was hesitant. Why? Because I know Lasagna takes a long time to prepare. With other noodle dishes, you boil the noodles, make the sauce and just dump everything together for a satisfying meal. With lasagna, you have to prepare two sauces - the tomato based and the Bechamel sauce, then you boil the pasta, carefully layer everything before baking again! Hmmm... to make or not to make...

I was very happy when I discovered this!

Instant lasagna sheets! No precooking required. No more boiling of the pasta! One less step to prepare. So, I agreed to make lasagna only if Daughter would help me with the layering.

1. Make the sauce: In a cooking pan, heat up the oil, saute the garlic and onions until fragrant but not burnt. Add in the tomatoes. Let cook for a while and mash some tomatoes until juices come out. Add in the marinated ground beef. Cook and mix until the beef changes color and is thoroughly cooked.

2. Add in the tomato sauce, cream, and the olives. Let boil. Add in the sugar, salt, pepper and dried oregano powder. Adjust to taste. Let boil and turn off heat.

3. Ladle some sauce and cover the bottom of a lasagna baking pan with some sauce. Put a sheet of lasagna over the sauce. Cover the sheet with some more sauce, then top with some grated mozarella and some quick melt cheese. Continue layering until all the sheets are used up. Top with more tomato sauce and more cheese.

4. Bake in a preheated oven 375F for 35 to 45 minutes. Slice and serve warm.

Easy cheesy beefy lasagna. I skipped the boiling of the pasta. I also skipped the Bechamel sauce by adding the cream into the tomato sauce. And the resulting dish is still creamy, flavorful cheesy! Even tastes better than the store-bought lasagna! If lasagna are easy to prepare like this, the kids can have their fill of this dish even on a busy week night!

Best part of all, all the cooking and layering served as a fun bonding activity with Daughter! :)

oh, i can't imagine having to make lasagne without the no-cook pasta sheets. i'm really glad you found it! i don't know if you get creme fraiche (or fromage frais) in manila but that's my other cheat - i use it in place of a bechamel sauce.

Mitch, I have to find out what a moussaka is... he he he, but I don't think that would be a problem since we have lots of great food blogs out there! Yeah, I told my daughter if she does not help out, she does not get to eat! LOL! :)

Abby, Looking forward to the round-up! I think I can find creme fraiche in the bigger supermarket chains... I will definitely try that.

WC, yup! That's what is nice about this instant oven-ready lasagna. I have to add more sauce (Since the lasagna sheets will soak them up)! and the kids love more sauce!